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160 Heather A. Horst“on my confirmation, or on my sisters’ birthdays, or my birthdays, or mymom’s birthday or special occasions.” In addition to snapping pictures onthese “special occasions,” Maxwel had recently used the camera for a scienceexperiment and his mother used the camera to take pictures at the marchfor immigrants’ rights that was held in Los Angeles, and nationwide, onMay 1, 2006.The digital camera also has been used to document apartment fixtures invarious stages of decay. Lydia explained that she took classes at a local communitycenter and learned about her rights as a tenant. She also learned abouthow to use photographs to record landlord negligence by watching La Cortedel Pueblo (The People’s Court), a Spanish-language program that presents reenactmentsof actual court cases. She said that the ceiling in her bathroom wasinflated and one day caved in, almost hitting her daughter. Another time, thekitchen ceiling caved in and released rat feces all over the room. This happenedon Maxwel’s birthday. Lydia said that she had made multiple pots of tamalesand that she was lucky the ceiling did not fall apart while she was cooking. Shetook pictures of both the bathroom- and kitchen-ceiling incidents and thenused these photos to argue against having to pay a full month’s rent.Lydia explained that she can barely afford to pay the rent for her apartment,let alone buy the kids video games. The family buys video games, which costabout thirty-five dollars, on credit at a local indoor swap meet. The Nintendo64 that Maxwel owns was a gift from a friend with whom they shared anapartment. The family computer was also a gift. Maxwel’s godparents gavehim this computer for his birthday but it broke and his godfather took thecomputer to be repaired. This was a year ago. Lydia explained that Maxwel’sgodfather “llevó la cabeza o el monitor, cómo se llama? Y no lo ha traída” (“tookthe brain or the monitor, what is it called? And he hasn’t returned it”). Thegodfather had taken the hard drive and Maxwel’s family was left with onlya printer and monitor. The monitor has been laid to rest with a plastic coverand is kept in a walk-in closet that also functions as a small bedroom (seefigure 4.1). The desk that the monitor was on now serves as a table for stuffedanimals and knickknacks. Although the printer is not connected to a computer,it is still kept on the bottom shelf of the desk.While the Garcia family does not represent a media-rich household, thefamily was eager to share stories and artifacts related to their media practices.During the course of the interview Maxwel and his mom brought out photoalbums with pictures of graduations, first communions, baptisms, and birthdayparties. They also brought out their digital camera and displayed thephotos of the immigrants’ rights march that were still stored on the device.Lydia was asked how the immigrants’ rights march compared to these familyevents. She explained: